V149 - Vehicle Tax Rates Official Document

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Alexandre Desoutter updated on September 10, 2020

'Tax it or lose it'. Don't forget, the UK government makes it pretty clear, taxing your vehicle is a legal requirement.

The following official V149 document gives you the up-to-date vehicle tax rates as from 1st of April 2020.

V149 - Vehicle tax rates (all types of vehicles)

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Why do I need to tax my car?

Taxing your vehicle is a legal requirement to put your car on the road in the UK.

If you are caught driving an untaxed car, you’ll get hit with a £50 non-endorsable fixed penalty notice by DVLA – but if the police catch you, they can fine you up to £1,000 on the spot.

Understand why to tax your car in details with our ultimate guide through vehicle car tax in the UK.

How much is car tax?

You may be hoping that this question has a simple answer. Unfortunately, the amount of tax that needs to be paid depends on quite a few different factors, including:

  • C02 emissions;
  • The date the car was registered;
  • The date whether the car is new (ie you’re paying its first year of tax);
  • The original list price of the car.

So there’s no simple online UK car tax calculator – you’ll need to go through a few steps to find the right tax rate. 

The first thing you need to know is when your car was first registered. That will tell you which method of taxation is used.

Cars registration dateExplanationTax amount
Cars registered after 31/03/2017First year tax based on CO2 emissionsFuture years
£140 if car cost less than £40,000 (£130 for cleaner fuels)
£450 if car cost more than £40,000Electric cars: zero, unless they cost over £40,000 (£310 tax)
Older cars – as long as they were registered after 1 March 2001Organized into tax bands from A to M, depending on the rate of C02 emissionsCars in band A: £0 Cars in band M: £570
Cars registered before March 2001Road tax is calculated according to the size of the engineEngine up to 1.49 litres : £155 Engine bigger than 1.5 litres: £255
Yearly tax amount (in £) by car registration date

Get to know more on how car tax is calculated with our guide.

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Alexandre Desoutter
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Alexandre Desoutter has been working as editor-in-chief and head of press relations at HelloSafe since June 2020. A graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble, he worked as a journalist for several years in French media, and continues to collaborate as a as a contributor to several publications.

In this sense, his role leads him to carry out steering and support work with all HelloSafe editors and contributors so that the editorial line defined by the company is fully respected. and declined through the texts published daily on our platforms.

As such, Alexandre is responsible for implementing and maintaining the strictest journalistic standards within the HelloSafe editorial staff, in order to guarantee the most accurate, up-to-date information on our platforms. and expert as possible. Alexandre has in particular undertaken for two years now the implementation of a system of systematic double-checking of all the articles published within the HelloSafe ecosystem, able to guarantee the highest quality of information.